Back when I was in deep with MMORPGs like Maplestory, Trickster, etc. I spent a good chunk of money on them to buff my character. The game developers these days have extremely clever ways of getting more money, haha. Trickster especially was the perfect example of a game you literally could not play without utilizing DLC. I mean, of course you could, but it was a crazy game.
For those of you who don't know, Trickster is an MMORPG that features 6, if I remember correctly, animal-based characters to choose from, which are analogous to classes in other MMORPGs, and you train them to their level cap, which is 400. Quite a steep number, wouldn't you say? Well, when I first played the game, I got my character to 72 before quitting, because the quests were getting confusing. I came back to the game when I heard a new update had made it possible to choose one character and automatically level it to 140, which is a big deal. After I had created my character and used the update to full advantage, I thought it would be a lot easier to finish quests and level up. Unfortunately, I was far off. Even with the level boost passing the confusing and boring part of the game, the characters were still not powerful enough to take anything out in one or two hits. Due to that, DLC was a necessity to progress in the game successfully. I didn't succumb, however, and after grinding to 154 I decided to give it a rest, for good.
In general, I think DLC is going to become the majority of most newly released games and I don't see it ever changing for the better. On the bright side, it's still optional and there will always be the good old games, haha!